I was essentially given a gift from the poker gods and this is the second time in my life where I have major regret. I regret spending the money and not playing it out. Who knows, I may have blown through the 10K and be telling you about I had 10K and instead of spending it I gave it all back. I wish I would have been to willing to take that risk. I know that anyone who plays poker seriously, and is reading this, knows that 10K in poker winnings isn't shit. I know that now, but back then that was the most money I ever had in my possession. I also wasn't serious about being a pro at the time. I wish I would have taken that big jump. I truly feel that had I kept playing everyday and played in all the big online tournaments, I would have become one of the "big names" on the online scene. Even if not one those names I think I could have turned that 10K into 100K and then I could have done some serious damage as opposed to the damage that was done with 10K.
Anyway enough rambling, I put a down-payment on a new car that was and is practical for me. I put a first and last payment on a new 1 bedroom apartment and fully furnished and bought many other miscellaneous items. I then went to work for my parents never knowing why I actually decided to do it. There were some rewarding experiences during that time, but deep down I think I always knew I was going to quit that industry. I just couldn't hang with it. The people of that industry are so much different from me. Just from life-style alone. I can't see myself getting up between 4-5 in the morning, 6-7 days a week for the next 30 years. I think it would kill me. I am not wired to be a morning person. To me the morning should only be enjoyed before going to bed, not after waking up. It takes me a while to recover from sleep and when I first wake up during the day, I need time to let my brain just un-mush itself.
In May of 2006 I turned 21 and for the first time was allowed to play in the LA card-clubs. I had been wanting to do it for years and finally got to step into the Commerce casino for the first time. Commerce is so ballin. No other poker-room I have ever been too competes with it and I have played in at least 12. The closest I would say is the Bellagio poker room. For the first time I bought into a $200 buy-in game. It was the highest I had ever played in a live cash game. I came right in and just killed it. Unfortunately, none of my results were tracked since I only played "recreationally" a couple times a week after work. I would say that for a couple month period I probably made about $1500. It more or less allowed me to buy more miscellaneous items. For some reason that I do not recall, I completely quit altogether. It must have been a summer thing because I remember having a lot of fun the summer after being 21 so thats probably why I didn't play a lot of poker. In August or so I played the $200 again. I don't really recall much at the time, but I probably posted a small loss overall after playing a few sessions. I know that because I got really upset one day and said, "If I am willing to risk $400 a night, I may as well jump into the $400.
My money management is much different now. I have realized that it is critical to have at least 3 buy-ins per your level of play when you walk in to play. If you have only one, you could get very unlucky early on and be forced to leave a really good game that you will eventually be profitable in if you stick it out.
I also wanted to play against tougher competition because I had played against many of the top online tournament players of the day and it always brought out the best in me. Plus the $200 players are horrible and suck out too often.
I made the jump to the $400 on October 6th 2006. The skill level and the game itself jumps dramatically from the limits. Thats why if you walk in to play that game everyday, you need to have $1200 comfortably in your pocket each time you play. Overall, the players are phenomenally better aside from all the Asian gamblers. Some of the regulars in the game, I would consider some of the best cash game players in the world. Aside from those players, I have played with several WSOP bracelet winners, circuit event ring winners, and lots of other great players.
I came into the $400 game and started crushing it. I started off winning 20 out of my first 25 sessions. It was unbelievable. At one point I had won 7 straight trips to Commerce. I have since never put up numbers that gaudy. I only now recognize at how hot I was running back then. In sessions where I won I would routinely flop sets (usually one per session if I was lucky.) hit straights and my nut flushes never seemed to miss. It is a streak that I have since desired experiencing once it ended. I had some unbelievable hands. These types of things never happen anymore. My first big cash game night ever went as such.
I had been playing for about 4 hours and was down $100 on my original buy-in and was card dead the whole session.
Hand 1: Stack $300. Hit trip Jacks on the turn with J 10 against seat 9's pocket kings.
Hand 2: Stack $600.
Seat 9 who had about $2700 in front of him when I sat down has just taken another bad beat and is now on tilt. He is now routinely making $150 raises pre-flop in a $5/$10 game. On this particular hand he only throws in a white chip. He does not announce "raise" and it goes down as a call. It is quite obvious that this has infuriated him that much more. I look down at 8 3 and check a $60 pot.
Flop: 8 8 4. Pot $60
Checks to seat 9 who bets out $50.
I call, and one other caller.
Turn: 8 Pot $210.
Check Check. Seat 9 bets $100. Call Call
River: Q Pot $510
I bet $100, Call, Seat 9 announces all in. I call immediately shoving my chips in Phil Hellmuth style not even considering that there is another player yet to act. Final pot $1500.00
Seat 9 flips over A Q and I show my quads. I scoop.
Hand 3. Another crazy hand with seat 9.
Stack $1600.00
Seat 9 now looks like he wants to kill me for spiking quads on a hand I should have never played due to his own mental error. Keep in mind that I also gave him a bad beat prior so this guy is on crazy monkey tilt now.
Seat 9 raises to $100.
I look down at A A and announce "raise" and throw 3 white chips in the center.
Seat 9 looks at me and thinks about for a minute or so and just calls. I'm pissing balls because I have no idea what he can be calling me with. Anything or K K.
Flop K 8 3 Rainbow. Pot $600.
Seat 9 checks.
I spend about a minute thinking about it and by this time a small crowd has gathered around the table because they had seen 6 white chips in the center before any community cards have been dealt.
I check wanting to see a free card and also want to see how much seat 9 likes his hand on the turn.
Turn: 9 Pot $600.
Seat 9 checks and I determine that seat 9 doesn't like his hand that much.
I bet $300. Seat 9 thinks about for 2 minutes and eventually calls.
River: A Pot $1200.
The nuts. Seat 9 checks and I think about it for a good 2 minutes before announcing all-in. Seat 9 thinks about it for another minute or so before folding. I show my Aces and seat 9 is beside himself. He eventually blows the last $700 on his stack and storms out with his buddies who tried to get him to leave after the quads hand. I leave not long after and leave with a stack of exactly $2000 on only a $400 buy-in. Two sessions later I was sitting on a stack of $1200 and had Aces against Kings all in pre-flop and flopped the Ace. I came up $2064 and to this day that is my biggest come-up ever in a cash game. The very next session I was sitting on a stack of $1000 and hit the nut flush on the river and raised an initial bet of $90 to $190. The games biggest sucker went all-in for $2000 with a jack high flush. I came up $1579 in barely over an hour.
5 sessions later, I went on my greatest winning streak. I posted wins of $339, $409, $671, $458, $984, $387, and $845. That is a consecutive upswing of $5393. My graph looked like this.
After that I posted $1800 in losses and $700 in winnings over the next 5 sessions. That little slump was the worst I had up to this point in the game. The last session and next few were at the Bellagio in the $400-$1000 buy-in $5/10 NL game they had.
I ran really bad in that game. On the very first hand of my second session which was actually a win I had Aces cracked for $600.
In the next session I had flopped a set over set in an un-raised pot where the only set that beat mine was J J which wasn't represented pre-flop. Not to mention, I also played the hand poorly and could have gotten him to lay it down with an all-in bet on the river that I was too scared to make. A bet I would easily make today without even thinking twice about it.
That session ended up being a loss of $1200 which is my worse loss ever. I came home to Commerce and won back the trips losses in about 8 sessions over 8 days. By this point, it was the first time ever that I was playing live poker everyday. This phase of my poker life ended on several small bad runs including one of the worst nights of my poker life.
I had a stack of $1000 and lost a $2000 pot after flopping a full house with K 7 in the SB in an un-raised pot. I got cleaned out by a guy who had 10 10 and hit the best hand on the turn. The final board looked like this: 7 7 K 10 A. All in on the river.
I re-bought and lost a $1500 pot when I flopped a fullhouse with 9 9 and got drawn out on by A 4. Final board: A 9 A 6 4 All in on the flop. I decided to quit poker on April 13 2007 two session after. I decided to go on an indefinite break and had come up $9600 during that time. I think I had about $4000 of it when I stopped playing.
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